Cleaning device.



L. L. FERGUSON.

CLEANING DEVICE. APPLIoATIoN FILED SEPT. 1d. 1913.

Patented June 9, 1914 s l IIIIIIII'IIIIIIIA lllll A En sra'rns Para uLEONARDL. FERGUSON, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO DUNTLEY PNEUMATICSWEEPER COMPANY, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS., A CORPORATION OF IDELAIHAIBJE.v

CLEANING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 9, 1914.

`Application med September 19, 1913. Serial No. 790,635.

T0 all whom it may conce/11n f Be it known that I, LEONARD L. FERGU-son, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident ofChicago, county of Cook. and State ot' Illinois, have invented certainnew andfuseful Improvements in Cleaning Devices, of which the followingis a specification. l p

'Ihe objects of this invention are to provide a combinedl carpet sweeperand suction cleaning device with a brush removably mounted on a type ofautomatically ad justable operating mechanism designed `to cause thebrush to sweep lightly over a carpet or other yielding surfaceregardless of 1 the depthI to which the supports of the device sink intosuch surface.

An illustrative embodiment of this invention is shown in theaccompanying drawing, in which -Figure 1 is a side elevation of acleaner including the present improvement. Fig.`2 is a fragmentarybottom plan view of the device. Fig. 3 is a detail in horizontal sectionof the brush supporting mechanism.

The present invent-ion is an improvement on the cleaning devices shownin applicants copending application Serial No. 705,080,

i filed June 21, 1912. The .said 'copending application shows anddescribes an automatically adjustable brush mechanism adapted to causethe brush to contact with the surface being cleaned, with a pressureinversely proportionate to the amount that a coperating suction nozzleassists in supporting the device.4 "l`he brush was not, however, readilyremovable for the purpose of making the device of said applicationexclusively Ia suction cleaner.v The present invention employssubstantially v' the same brush operating mechanism as t-he formerdevices, but still provides'a construction whereby the brush may easilybe removed.

The general arrangement of the device is shown in Fig. 1. It consists ofa body structure made in two parts 1 and 2. The upper part 1 issurrounded by a suitable casing 3 inclosing a plurality of suctionbellows (not shown) but operated by pitman connections 4 to supportingwheels 5 journaled in brackets 6 extending downwardly from the bodypart 1. The art 1 ofthe device also includes means or filtering dustfrom the air drawn through 'the device by the bellows. The part 2supports a hollow suction nozzle 7 in communication with the filteringmeans, and `also supports brush operating mechanism 8 mounted on eachside of a suitable 'dust box 9. The parts 1 and 2 of the device areconnected together with a yoke 'l0 having a vswviveled lconnection 11with the part l. and adapted to engage spring clips 12 secured to nozzle7. In this manner the device is rigidly held together as a unit but theparts 1 and 2 may be sepa rated by rocking yoke 10 upwardly around itspivots 11, and bv so doing permit access to the liltering device and thedust box for the purpose of removing the accumulated dust from themachine.

The brush operating mechanism is su ported ateach side of the machine bybraciicts 13 secured to the brush box 9 by screws at its ends 14 und15."` A lever 16 is located on the inside of each bracket 13 and has apivotal connection 17 with the bracket. At their right hand ends, Figs.1 and 3, the levers 16 are provided with horizontal slots 1S throughwhich pass the ends of a rod 19 upon which are journaled supportingwheels 20 normally urged by'springs into Contact with rollers 22 securedto the brush shaft 23. The rod 19 is also arranged to resiliently exerta downward pressure on the wheels 20, or springs 30 may be provided forthis purpose. Holes 2-1 are drilled into the ends of the shaft 23, sothat the brushes 32 may beh-otatably supported on pins 25 carried byleaf springs 26 and extending through slots 27 and 28 respectively inthebrackets 13 and levers 16. The leaf springs 26 are pivoted to thebrackets 13 'by rivets 29, and the slots 27 and 28 are so arranged inthevbrackets 13 and lever 16 as to permit the lever 1G to rock aroundits pivot 17 while the leaf spring 26 rocks around its pivot 29 withoutaltering the pressure between supporting wheels 20 and rollers 22. Theends 33 of the leaf springs 20 are so arranged as to be convenient foran operator of the device to take hold of. for the purpose of pullingthe springs outwardly an thereby disengaging the brush from its sup rts.

In the normal operation ofthe dgifice over a hard surface, the device issupported by thel wheels 5 and 20, while the brush and suction nozzlelightly contact with such surface, or the nozzle 7 may be slightly abovethe 'surface being cleaned, but pressure applied to the device throughthe operating handle compresses spring 30 whilev the pivots 17 lower androck levers 16 .so as to .force Lthe brush to bear 'against saidsurface. When the device is used to` clean soft material, such asvarious kinds of vcarpets and regis, the wheels 20 will sinkrdownwardlyinto t e material and a. large part of the Weight of the device is borne4by suction nozzle 7, as the latter has a large contacting surface areaas compared with the contacting surface of the Wheels. The brush 32therefore is not carried so far downwardly as when .the wheels 2O areengaged with a hard surface, but merely lightly engages the surface Iofthe rug being cleaned without disturbing much of thc nap or pile.l 4 YIf it. is desired to use thedevice simply as a suction cleaner, thebrush 32 may be removed by pressing the ends 33 ofthe leaf springs :26outwardly, thereby withdrawing pins from the recesses 24 and permittingthe brush to be removed.

Although but onespecific embodiment of this invention has been hereinshown and described, itwill be understood that some of` the details ofthe construction shown may be altered or omitted without departingY fromthe spirit-0f this invention as defined by the following claims. f

I claim w 1. In a device of the class described, the

combination with a body, of a lever having a pivotal connection withsaid body, a supporting wheel journaled onthelever lat one side of itspivot, a rotative brush on the other sideof the-pivotand arranged to bedriven by the wheel on said lever, means whereby the brush is removablysupported by said lever, and resilient mea-ns for urg` ing `said leverto rock around its pivot in a direction to carry vsaid wheel downwardlyand the brush upwardly. l

2. In a device of the class described, the combination with a body, of abracket ei;- tending outwardly from the side of said body, and having aslot therein, alever-piv-A otally supported on the inner side of saidbracket and having a hole opposite said slot, a brush shaft having arecess in its end in alinenient with said hole, a leaf spring pivoted onthe outside of said bracket and pro-- vided with apin passing-throughsaid slot f and hole and into the recess in said shaft,

-Whereby'the shaftiis removably connected to 4 the lever, and asupporting wheel journaled on said lever and adapted to drive saidshaft.-

